SportsMax– West Indies batting star Chris Gayle is set for an appearance in court in a case where he sued Australian media entity Fairfax Media for defamation of character relating to a story published two years ago.
The article accuses the cricketer of purposefully exposing himself to a masseuse before lewdly prepositioning her in a locker room while the Windies trained in Sydney during the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
Gayle, who has strongly denied the allegations, is scheduled to appear at the New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court where he will provide evidence on his behalf. Gayle’s former teammate Dwayne Smith could also be called to the stand as he was reportedly in the locker room at the time of the incident. The media entity has continued to claim that the allegations are true and the Australia masseuse will also take the stand to testify in an attempt to justify the claim.
In documents presented to the court, they allege the plaintiff, Gayle, exposed himself to the masseuse – referred to as ‘Person A’ – while his team was training at Drummoyne, in inner-west Sydney, on or about February 12, 2015.
‘During the training session, whilst the majority of players were on the field, Person A entered the players’ dressing room,’ their defence states. ‘The plaintiff and another West Indian cricketer, Dwayne Smith, were in the dressing room. The plaintiff was wrapped in a towel.’
The document claims the following conversation took place.
Gayle: ‘What are you looking for?’
Masseuse: ‘A towel.’
Gayle: ‘Are you looking for this?’
Masseuse: ‘No.’
‘As the plaintiff asked Person A “Are you looking for this?” the plaintiff pulled his towel out and down and partially exposed his penis to Person A,’ the defence states.
Gayle’s legal team claims his reputation has taken a beating following the accusations that have ‘brought him into public disrepute, ridicule and contempt, damaging his personal reputation and commercial brand’. They seek compensation of a $1 million in the case.
